My Cosmetic Obsession
If you read my guest post on nomeatathlete.com, you already know that I am addicted to cheese, but you may not have known that I also have a problem with high end cosmetics. Because I promised you honesty, I am about to put it all out there. Prepare yourself for some shocking images and price tags. This post is not for the faint of heart.
Here it is, my biggest confession, admission and scream for help. When we had our yard sale recently, I was dumb founded about all the money I had spent over the years. I had bought things that meant nothing to me now. I wondered what my garage sale inventory to savings account ratio really meant.
Then, I started to think about the other places my money was hiding. It was in a beautiful dining room set that is rarely used, a couple of cars, all inclusive vacations, computer equipment and, <deep breath>, my make-up drawer.
Names like Ralph Lauren, Manolo Blahnik and Dolce and Gabbana don’t really do it for me, but whisper brands like, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier and Giorgio Armani cosmetics, and I melt. I get lost in department store cosmetic sections. The pretty palettes call my name. The smell of certain creams and lotions send me to a state of bliss. When my sister visits, (with her make-up addiction), I spend hundreds on shadows, sticks and scented goodies.
Ladies, tell me that I am not alone here. Tell me that you have used the rationalization that if you spend $60 on the perfect foundation, it is less than .16 cents per day for one year. If you’ve done that, or get butterflies in your stomach when Bobbi Brown releases new seasonal palettes, you need to join my three step program. (men, please share this with your wives. You may not even know they have a problem.)
Step One – Admit you have a problem. Hi, My name is Courtney and I am a pretty palette addict.
Step Two – Assess the value and show off your inventory. Really understanding how much money is in your make-up drawer is a lesson you will never forget. Here are my before and after (the unclutter) images. This process was painful but necessary.
Lotions & Creams: Approximate value: $290
Hair & Nails: Approximate value: $105
Brushes: Approximate value: $450
Foundations & Primers: Approximate value: $525
Eye Shadows & Liners: Approximate value: $700
Lips & Cheeks: Approximate value: $675
Grand Total: $2745
Step Three – Commit to no purchases from Nordstrom cosmetic counters (or your favorite department store) or Sephora, or any website that leads you into temptation, for three months, and then, you may purchase an item. You must stick with the one in, one out program. If you buy a lipstick, another one goes in the trash. Once you go through your make up and toss what you don’t use or love, your inventory should never increase!
Maybe we share this addiction, but maybe your “make-up drawer” is be a cabinet full of video games, or a shed full of very expensive tools that you don’t use. Perhaps you have several very expensive cooking pans, many of which serve the same purpose. It’s time to come clean! Where is your money hiding?
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less & share on twitter.
subscribe your way:
Guilty.
My makeup drawer is (was!) filled with video games. At sixty bucks a pop, I’m a little afraid to sit down and calculate just how much coin I’ve spent on a hobby that very rarely justified the cost. I think that’s actually the hardest part – realizing how little value we get in return for all the money we spend on things we fancy.
I’m a little floored at how expensive those brushes and accessories turned out to be. You should do a follow-up post in a month’s time and let us know if you’ve kept to your promise. Nothing like a blog to hold yourself accountable!
Great post. Courtney!
Matt, I will for sure do a follow post. If I can give up dairy and tv, I can give up buying pretty pots of creams and gels that I probably won’t use. You have to do the 3 step process. When you see that final number…you will want to make a change! Thanks for your comment, I love that you admitted what was in your make-up drawer!
For me, it was books and CDs. However, I was able to sell some of my CDs for more than I paid for them after I digitized them all and backed them up both on site and in the cloud. Some, though, weren’t even worth a dollar.
I do have a few words of encouragement for you: going by the pic on your about page, you hardly need any of those products to be beautiful! Toss as many as you can (recycle the containers if possible), and embrace the joy that comes from knowing you can run through a sprinkler on a hot day and you’re not wearing mascara that will run!
I wore makeup until my early 20s, hoping it would cover my imperfect skin. It turned out that the makeup was actually causing problems with my skin (and taking up time in my life). Since then, I have only used a really good eyelash curler and some clear, natural lip balm. That’s all I need! (OK, I spend on a really good cleanser and moisturizer, and I do tame my eyebrows, but that’s all.)
Awurrlu, thanks for the kind words of encouragement. The second part of my confession is that I don’t really wear a lot of make-up. In fact, if I don’t have a meeting or hot date with my husband, I don’t wear any! I just love it. (weird and wrong, I know!) Also, thanks for mentioning the eyebrows – that is another $30 a month for expert waxing!
I am the same way- I wear makeup maybe once or twice a week and it is usually minimal when I do (foundation, blush, mascara). I can’t be bothered on a daily basis, but I take comfort in knowing that I have lots of pretties hoarded at home. Haha, its a strange thing indeed.
Love the honesty!
For me, it is work out clothes. I have about 25 pairs of workout shorts and 30 shirts.
I used to have a magazine habit that was pretty amazing. I only subscribe to two now and don’t “crave” them like I used to. It’s really freeing to limit things…even the good things. Best of luck to you.
Courtney, I admire your honesty in posting this, and all the pictures, especially as your blog is called Be More With Less! Forgive me for saying but looking at the before and after pictures was a bit like playing spot the difference for me. I couldn’t see that you’d got rid of very much?
I know I’m a guy and my “make up” collection consists of a bottle of moisturiser, a few lipsalves, a tub of cocoa butter, and a tub of hair styling wax, but what do you need 24 different brushes for? I’m intrigued!
That said, I think we should bear in mind that not everything we purchase is as an investment, or must have a great resale value. Sometimes it’s just because it genuinely enhances our lives.
The things I have most of are CDs (about 550ish) and I contemplate virtually daily whether to put them all on a hard drive, get a huge capacity ipod and go completely digital. But I just so love cover artwork and ho some of the packaging is hand made (eg – artists on Canadian label Constellation). Also, maybe this is just me, but I have trouble finding stuff on my ipod nano because I often remember a record by its cover before I remember the artist or album name, and on the ipod it’s just a list of text. I love music, and every CD I’ve bought I see as not a momentary investment, but an investment in my own pleasure and quality of life.
Anyways, like Matt said, an update post would be great to see. Well done for being so open.
Dan, Thanks for weighing in. My minimalism is a work in progress. I am shedding clutter, and non-essentials, but I have to say my make up drawer was tough! I noticed the same thing about about the before and after pics, but I know that I did unload a bunch! When I post my update, I am going to get rid of more (maybe a few of the brushes!). They each have their own purpose, but my explanation would not be minimalistic!
Courtney – I so agree with you one the whole brush-uation….. however, I am happy to say I getting more and more inspired and I’m ‘goin’ in’ too. I don’t believe I have the dollars invested in brushes but the number of them I house is above normal…. I am a huge Kat Von D fan and have purchased all of her pallets to date….. realistically I cannot/do not wear more than say 4 colors on any given day so – clearly – I am overstocked.
Thanks for the inspiration I cannot tell you how much it has encouraged me to change and appreciate.
Linda
Way to confess, Courtney. It’s not just you. We all have way, way too much stuff. I have twenty-five pieces of patio furniture. Some are under the deck because there isn’t room for them or I got sick of them. I’ve recently noticed this and decided to not buy anything new for my deck. How many chairs do three people really need? We can all learn to just stop, wait and ask whether or not we really need it. It’s kind of a sickness in our society right now. I think they call it “affluenza”. Someone the other day told me they heard the expression “a five planet society”. It meant that if everyone on the planet consumed at the rate that North Americans do, we’d need five planets to sustain us. Crazy. Our money is hiding in our need to consume and we’ve just got to stop our addictions to buying stuff. Love your confessional post.
Hi Courtney,
This post resonated with me. My obsession has been hair care products – buying yet another new one to tame the frizz. I was able to stop doing it a year ago by really looking at (and seeing) the contents of my “hair products” drawer and also by facing the feelings that were driving the buying.
For me the root of this kind of unnecessary buying is always some inner dissatisfaction or disquiet, which the purchase does nothing for. It’s uncomfortable to face those feelings but then again hair conditioner will never lessen them.
Hi there I am the sister! I love my Bobbie Brown, and where it all the time! I use BB because my skin reacts well, if I use another brand I am full of blemishes.
I will continue to use Ms. Brown for a long long time!!
… just to stir a bit of conversation on this topic…
have you considered putting these items into a box and stashing it away to see which you actually are using?
it’s taken me a few months, but i have rid myself of make up completely. my confession is i’ve noticed the days i have the urge to wear make up are days my self esteem isn’t in the best of shape.
ladies, let’s be proud and wear our beauty on the outside and shed ourselves of the constraints of make up! it uses valuable resources to create, adds lots to landfills, wastes our money when purchased, steals our time when putting it on, touching up, removing. realize those dark circles under our eyes are our bodies needing a little sleep! maybe try ditching make up for awhile as another mini mission!
My tip is to sort the makeup you have left into ‘summer’ and ‘winter’ – clean the out of season stuff beautifully and put it away in a box. When the seasons change it feels as if you have a whole load of ‘new’ makeup, without buying anything new. Plus some of it will have gone off, so you can guilt-free throw that away. Then at the end of the season, when you change your make up over, you’ll also be able to get rid of anything that you didn’t use in the past season, as you know for a fact you haven’t worn it.
Buying make up is all tied up with enjoying the feeling of ‘potential’ improvement…tomorrow I will be Cinderella! I have found myself that accepting myself now as I am means that I only want makeup that makes me look good right now. So if I buy makeup, I tell myself that unless I’m happy to crack the packaging on the spot and put some on in the shop to wear home, it’s probably never going to get used because I’m buying for this crazy ‘improved’ version of myself. That helps stop me buying 10 red lipsticks, when I never wear lipstick
only three basic things one needs: mascara, concealer, bronzer, lipgloss or chapstick, and a clenser to remove it all at the end of the day or to use first thing in the morning, the end.
Trust me, the obsession is worse when you work in the beauty industry!
(I’m a makeup artist, manicurist/pedicurist & I’m studying to be an esthetician. They just enable me.)
Wow, that’s a lot of product! I have probably two dozen items but your pictures inspired me to give them a once over. I have brushes I don’t use, eye shadow that I don’t like how it feels and nail polish I don’t wear. My hair is now super short but I’ve kept my blow dryer, straightner, curling iron and hair accessories in case I grow it out (which will probably never happen – I love my wash and wear look). Seems I also have an old box of hair color which I haven’t done for about 8 months now. I’ve embraced my natural color and all the gray that goes along with it. Thanks for the prompt to give my cosmetic bits and bobs a clean out.
At 46, I’ve also embraced my gray and, as of last haircut, have cut all the old coloring out. I was never much for expensive makeup when Maybelline or Covergirl will do. Now that my 12 and 14 y-o girls are wearing makeup, I make sure they are using the minimum to enhance their beauty but not cover it up. Whatever fits into a little makeup bag, which amounts to foundation for imperfections only, a trio of eyeshadow that enhances their color, mascara and curler, and lip balm. Makeup shouldn’t be the first thing I see when I look at their face. They are reminded of this when they see girls in school wearing a ton of it and how awful it looks. We use coconut oil mixed with Aquafor for moisturizer, plain soap for face washing, and maybe some acne cream. That’s it. Balancing hormones with a good diet is the most essential thing for anybody, young and old.
Oh this post could have been written for me!
Thank you!
As part of the #less365 hashtag on Twitter I’ve been looking at my makeup bag this week. I’ve been horrified at the quantity of just ‘stuff’ 12 eyeshadows, at least that in lipsticks, glosses and balms, 6 eyeliners, and as for nailpolish well you’re really minimalist already on that score! I’m too embarrassed to count them.
So I’m really working on reducing it. 8 eyeshadows have gone (and the others are on notice – if I don’t appear to use them in the near future they’re out too) most of the eyeliners and over half the lipsticks. Nailpolishes are my next target.
I’ve been thinking as to why I’ve got this many. Cosmetic counters have a lot to answer for, as well as my habit of thinking that whilst I’m shopping (and have a list of things the children need like stuff for school) I’ll just treat myself…. Oh and hands up who else loves those ‘buy one product get a make-up bag of goodies as a free gift’ That would be me and of course half of it doesn’t even suit me.. *sigh*
Thanks again for this post – very timely for me
You inspired me to do the same on my blog! I put a link to this page mine, I hope that was okay. =)
http://lowercaseliving.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/simplify-cosmetics/
so glad i am not the only person with this addiction … i just cleaned out my cosmetics drawer and was horrified at the amount of money i threw in the garbage … and yet i am fighting the tempatation for a new lipstick today … baby steps!!!
Stay strong Helena! The temptation will always be there but it fades.
Guilty as charged!
I have a 4-drawer, wheeled, plastic container devoted to makeup and it’s overflowing. My DS is getting married in ten days and I just bought another new foundation, powder, blush and eyeshadow quad today – got to have “new” stuff for the big day! I know it’s crazy. Because I’ve always had trouble with my skin, skin care products have almost replaced my makeup obsession. Your post really help me re-evaluate how I’m spending my money. At least I’m thinking about going on a skin care product and makeup diet. I keep thinking of the old adage, “what you focus on increases.” Am I increasing my skin problems by paying so much attention to them? Maybe I just need to stop applying three or four different concoctions to my face day and night and let nature take its course…maybe.
Moushka, I think you have a great point. Give yourself a 90 day challenge of just a simple face washing/moisturizer with Sunscreen routine and see how things are. You can always go back, but maybe you’ll discover that you don’t need to.
Courtney,
Just found your blog and this post makes me cringe. I counted all my products once last year and it was well above what any one person needs.
I organised it into ‘seasons’ and store it in makeup bags, so each season it feels good to get ‘new’ colours to play with – and I think that is why I have so much… two little boys and a home business means I don’t get to use my creativity much these days. I love(d) to paint and think that is reflected in the amount of makeup I have. One form of painting for another.
Wow! Thank you so much Courtney for your courage and honesty to share! Today as I read your “10 Ways… article,” I linked to “one is enough” and held my breath as I linked to “my cosmetic obsession!” I thought I was the only one in the world with this problem.
Your photos duplicate the items that spill out of my many Bobbi Brown makeup bags! My heart took a leap because it looked so familiar. It wasn’t Nordstroms, but the internet that fed my Bobbi Brown obsession. If one is good, then aren’t two or three better? One for upstairs, downstairs, purse, travel bag, car, work drawer? I do love brushes and a palette of colors, as I am an artist and enjoy the experience of painting, like Nichole mentioned above. But do I really need 5+ BB dual-tipped eyeshadow brushes?! No.
I finally started owning up about a year ago, and so I stopped going to the Bobbi Brown site and don’t buy makeup anymore. Am beginning to value the concept of one is enough, but what to do with all the rest? It’s easy to trash the makeup that is past prime, but I still have a problem throwing out perfectly great stuff. One thing I have done for several years is to put out a boxful of unused/gently used makeup/tools at my daughter’s garage sale, marked “free.” Little girls love to dig through it, and they are getting a bit of joy from my mistakes. I know I have more than a lifetime’s worth of makeup right now, and the fear of my secret being “discovered” was real! So I actually have a handwritten note in my big bag of “spares” under the bed (dated 11/16/07):
“To Whomever finds this–
”
Please do not think I am crazy– this is my compulsive weakness: saving make-up. It hurts no one. Takes up little space. Memories from 35 years. When I get an urge to buy make-up, I just “go shopping” in my stash.
PS Just use a hint of blush at my funeral
Thank you for your great post! Am motivated to get back up there to do some more weeding… Love getting your inspiring messages. Thank you.
This post is so great! I love makeup and beauty products too. I have been doing a Project 10 Pan and am working on part 5. (If you don’t know what that is, it’s on my site.) Your declutter looks like mine did when I didn’t really take that much away, but it felt like a lot to me.
What is the status now? Are you free from this addiction or do the pretty palettes still call to you? I’d love to know!
-Jennifer
They still call, but I don’t answer.
I’m way late to comment but I just found your blog. I used to love makeup and had lots of cheap stuff that I didn’t use. Now I buy high quality (natural, organic and vegan when I can) but very few items. I also have a folder on my computer with images of everything I own according to room etc. This keeps me accountable because when I have to scroll and scroll to find what product I’m thinking of I know I own too much (of any given category). I now have 34 separate products including makeup, body wash, body lotion, cleansers, cotton buds, washcloth, tweezers, nailpolish, perfume, makeup brushes etc etc). I believe that if you have a healthy lifestyle you don’t need a lot of makeup – and I believe in natural beauty. I do still own makeup products though, but I hope I won’t replace everything when it’s used up and that I in the end, end up with less. This was good for me to read though to re-evaluate again what I have lurking in my cupboards.
I think my money is hiding in dvd’s (I have 19) and dvd boxes (I buy all the simpsons dvd’s – currently have 15 because they’ve not come much longer in the country I live in. I expect to buy them all because I re-watch them and feel the value per box is worth it). I’d like to be more minimalist in this aspect but the excuse I tell myself is that I do watch these things over and over and over (I’ve tossed out everything I don’t watch on a regular basis and that doesn’t leave me feeling content). I’m sure I could do without though – realistically
Wow! It looks excessive…and then I realize that if I were to lay out all my MAC products etc. (instead of having them all jumbled together in a few boxes), it would look much like this. My husband buys me MAC lipsticks for every birthday, Valentines day, Christmas, anniversary, etc…at some point I have to get rid of the ones I don’t actually wear. What a tough challenge, but a worthy one!
This is very surprising! I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, (or maybe it’s a compliment to your application skills?), but in all the pictures I’ve seen of you, I never noticed you had make-up on. I honestly didn’t think you wore any.
My “make-up drawer” is books! I buy them and never get around to reading them, yet if I pick something out at the library, I read it in a matter of days. I am in the process of moving and I keep looking at my book shelf, thinking about how much I don’t want to box them up and bring them to my new place. I know I need to just let go, and donate them to the library or Goodwill so someone else can enjoy them.
I applaud you for being brave enough to share this post, and the photos, with the world!